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Wood Lake

Cherry County

Wood Lake, originally called "Cottonwood Lake" us the oldest town in Cherry County. This road, dividing the lake, was built in 1933.

Wood Lake as it looked in about 1924.

Scenes in Nenzel after the blizzard of 1948-49.

Photo featured on the NEBRASKA...Our Towns posters is of a 4-H calf show, last use of the old livery stable. Photo taken by Elsie Coble in 1956, the livery stable and 4-H are both gone from the streets of Nenzel.

The quiet town of Wood Lake on a Sunday afternoon, 1988. [Harris]

In 1882 the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad had pushed its way westward
from O'Neill to a small lake surrounded by cottonwood trees. It was given the name
"Cottonwood Lake," but soon the word "cotton" was dropped, and
"Wood Lake" became the name of the oldest town in Cherry County.

Located south of the Niobrara River and it's formidable canyons, the low-rolling hills
covered with native grass made it ideal cattle-raising country. As soon as the rails were
completed, Wood Lake was the largest cattle shipping town on the line that later became
the Chicago & North Western.

A large
stockyard with loading chutes was built by the railroad. Cattle were driven from the
ranches and loaded onto trains bound for Omaha. At shipping time, the hotel and livery
stable were filled. The lowing of cattle, the whistles and yells of the cowboys, and the
puffing and clanging of the trains could be heard day and night for weeks.

During the late 1940s closer markets, oiled highways, and semi-trucks changed all that.
Shipping cattle by rail was abandoned in the early 1950s, and the depot and stock yards
were torn down. In the 1950s, the ranchers established and now maintain truck weighing
scales and loading chutes south of town, and another to the north, which are used at
shipping time.

School
District No.7 was organized and a one-room school built in 1883. A two-story frame school
was built in 1895, with a brick building erected in 1929, still used today. The high
school closed in 1963 when enrollment dwindled. The rural schools joined with Wood Lake to
form a consolidated K-8 so that in 1988 there are 28 students, three teachers, 3 buses,
and several volunteers.

With its easy accessibility, Wood Lake drew trade from miles around. By 1900 there were
several general merchandise stores, a doctor and pharmacy, newspaper, ice house, grist
mill, livery stable, blacksmith, lumber, grain, and coal business. A piece of land was
designated for a cemetery.

Wood Lake reached its peak population of 500 by 1920. A municipal power plant, built in
the early 1920s, was used to produce electricity until 1948 when Wood Lake elected to join
the REA system. Windmills gave way to the new water system with its large holding tank,
and a centrally-operated telephone system was installed.

The Union Church was organized in 1883 with a building erected in 1901. On December 6,
1964, it burned down. Services were held in the Assembly of God building that had closed
earlier that year. In 1965 the O'Halloran Hardware building was acquired and remodeled
into the church that is used today. The Catholic Church, built in 1915, was closed in
1987.

The town of Wood Lake was hit hard when the stock market crashed in 1929. It caused
some businesses to close, however, the bank survived. During the drought and "dust
bowl days" followed, many ranches were lost and more businesses closed, forcing
people to seek economic security elsewhere.

"Progress" was also changing the local trade area. By the middle 1930s
Highway 20 was completed. Better automobiles and trucks made it easier to travel to the
larger towns with more variety and competitive prices.

World War II contributed further to the demise of our small town as young men entered
the armed services and other people moved closer to the war-related jobs in factories.
Most never returned to "the country."

Wood Lake
remained the center for many activities during the 1950s. Main street was a good place to
hold the 4-H baby-beef sale and other events of local interest. The Bank of Wood Lake
moved to Valentine in 1965. More businesses closed at that time, and the one general store
that had survived, good times and bad, burned in 1974.

The 1986 farm-ranch economy upheaval was the greatest threat to the area since the
1930s. With ranch foreclosures, bank closings, and business failures, it is yet to be
determined what the final impact on our rural society will be.

The 1988 population of Wood Lake was 90. In addition to the school, we still have a
post office, service station, small engine repair shop, a church, Masonic Lodge, a rural
fire protection district, and a small park with RV hookups. The oiled main street is
generally very quiet, except for the annual free barbecue and street dance held in July.

Every five
years a school reunion brings back many old friends and neighbors. Our town is still
"home" to many people around the country who remember the good ol' days and
growing up in the wide-open spaces of Cherry County where cattle graze on the native
grasses.